The Concert Before Christmas
by Katherine RhubarbVT
Summary: Christmas is coming, but the local church won't be there for it. The Veggie gang decided to put up a concert to save the church and to show others how thankful they are for God's grace. But Harry has a different goal in mind. Will he ever learn that Christmas is about Jesus, not gifts, ourselves or even fame?
1. What About the Church?

Christmas was in the air and the townspeople were quite excited for it. Kids are playing snowball fights and adults were merrily shopping for gifts, food and decorations. One particular group of Veggies, though, were having a different kind of fun themselves.

Harry the Cucumber skied downhill, dodging everything that blocked his way as quickly as possible. After a while, he halted for a stop.

"Ha ha! Let's see if you can beat my speed and agility now!" Harry bragged.

"Speed, agility and stunts," Billy the Tomato, Harry's best friend, stated as he stopped beside Harry with a proud smirk on his face.

"Nu-uh. You fellas need to sharpen your skills and watch how _real_ skiers do it." Sara Rhubarb declared, to the boys' surprise.

"Sara? You don't even know how to ski." Harry wondered.

"I'm not talking about me, silly. I'm talking about my older sister." Sara giggled.

Harry's and Billy's eyes widened as they glanced up hill to find Katherine flipping and skiing faster than them. Before she landed between Sara and Harry, she did her final flip which was 360 degrees on air.

"Ha! Beat that!" Katherine cheered.

"Easy for you to say; you've been skiing since you were six!" Harry protested.

"Well, practice makes perfect. Katherine's still giving me pointers." Sara stated.

"Can you give us pointers, too?" Billy asked.

"If you're using them to compete against me, no," Katherine joked.

"Aw, c'mon, Katherine! That's not fair!" Harry moaned.

Katherine giggled as she picked up her skis and joined her friends to walk to town. They were chatting away when they suddenly bumped on Larry the Cucumber who was standing nearby the local church, literally.

"Oh, hi, Uncle Larry!" Harry greeted. "What's up?"

"It's bad." Larry replied.

"What could be so bad about Christmas?" Sara asked innocently.

"Not Christmas, the local church is forced to be brought down by a business company. It's not gonna last until Christmas." Larry reported.

"But Christmas is next week!" Billy said.

"We won't have our usual Christmas service, then!" Katherine worried.

"What's Christmas without a church service?!" Sara exclaimed.

"Is there anything we can do to help, Uncle Larry?" Harry asked.

"It would take a miracle to save the church now." A voice said.

Behind Larry, Bob the Tomato and Archibald Asparagus appeared from the back of the church. Their faces were down as if they had discussed this with the business owner but failed to convince him.

"There's not much we can do." Archie sighed.

"But… the church," Sara reminisced, looking at the building that felt like her second home.

"I'm sorry, kids." Bob said.

"Let's just go over to Petunia's house and think this over." Larry suggested.


	2. The Wrong Idea

All of them silently agreed and walked sadly to Petunia's house which was beside Katherine and Sara's house. Petunia served hot chocolate to her guests as Larry explained the bad news.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, guys. I believe this Christmas is shaping out to be the worst one." Petunia said.

"Yeah, it sure is." Harry said.

For a while, the Veggies were silent, thinking why a business company would do such a thing. That was when Katherine, who was a really intelligent and idealistic girl, had a big idea. Her face lightened up and she stood from the couch she was sitting on.

"I have an idea to save the church!" Katherine declared.

"What?" Larry asked.

"We should raise a lot of money so we can buy the church out of the business owner's hands!" Katherine beamed.

"But Christmas is in one week time. We'll never be able to produce a big amount of money." Petunia argued.

"Not if we think big," Katherine snapped.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sara gasped.

"Maybe. What are you thinking?" Katherine smirked.

"I was thinking about…"

"A Christmas concert!" the two sisters agreed.

"A concert?!" Harry beamed.

"We'll sell tickets for our concert and the money can go to the church!" Katherine explained.

"That's a fantastic idea!" Larry agreed.

"And we know just what to do." Harry said.

"Everybody in say 'aye'!" Katherine announced.

"Aye!" Harry decided.

"Aye!" Sara cheered.

"Aye!" Petunia sang.

"Aye!" Larry volunteered.

"Aye!" Bob smiled.

"Aye!" Billy jumped.

"Eye?" Archibald wondered, confused.

"Aye, not eye." Katherine clarified.

"Oh. Aye!"

"Then, it's settled. What are we going to do about the concert?" Sara asked.

"Oh, I have ideas!" Larry led. "We sing these songs and we hire some guys…"

…

Once their meeting was done, the veggies exited Petunia's home with big smiles on their faces. They bid their farewells to their friends and thanked Petunia for the hot chocolate. Harry had the biggest and brightest smile among them.

"This is big! Once I'll be in the concert, people will recognize me! I might be famous! This concert has to be big time." Harry imagined.

"Whoa, slow down there, champ. This isn't about being famous and all." Larry reminded.

"I know. But think of the number of people to be there! I've got to start practicing!" Harry grinned.

Harry was heading to Larry's home (where he stays) when Larry blocked his nephew's way with a serious look on his face.

"What?" Harry groaned.

"Harry, Katherine gave this idea to help the church not you or me or anybody. We are doing this because we love God and He gave so much to us." Larry expounded.

"I thought you said we couldn't out give God 'cause He's got everything." Harry remembered.

"We can't. But we _can_ thank Him. He already gave up His son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins. Jesus was meant to be a gift to us. We should thank Him for the sacrifice He gave. That's what Christmas is all about: glorifying Jesus, not ourselves." Larry smiled.

Harry heard, but didn't listen too much.

"You've been hanging out with Bob and Archibald for too long." Harry said, walking home.

"You weren't listening, weren't you?" Larry asked.

"I'm still listening!" Harry lied.

"Kids," Larry mumbled.

"Like you don't act like one!" Harry smiled.

"C'mon. Let's just go home." Larry insisted.

* * *

**I published this before Christmas because I expect this to be done by the time the new Veggie Tales episode is released. Please review! :)**


	3. Forces Unite or So We Thought

The next day, the team was abuzz about the concert. Posters were hung up and they started to set the stage and sell tickets. Other friends also helped them along. Katherine was very helpful to the team in preparing and Larry and the other grown-ups helped her with her decisions. Her cellphone buzzed and rang and she picked it up. Sara laid down a box of Christmas decors beside her and rummaged through the box. She picked up an angel figurine that was supposed to be hung on their Christmas tree **(A/N: Remember Hope from Easter Carol? She's the figurine Sara's holding. Just sayin' :)**.

"Hi, Larry. How's it going with the microphones?" Katherine asked.

_"Good, K. But it's dark in here and we might have some technical difficulties." _Larry said on the other end of the line.

_"And we all know whose fault was that."_ Bob moaned in the background.

"What technical difficulties?" Katherine asked.

_"Like the wire's too long. Boy, is it dark down here?!"_ Larry yelled.

_"I thought I told you to bring a flashlight!"_ Bob scolded.

_"No, you didn't! Wait! There's a matchstick!"_

_"Larry, I wouldn't do that if I were you."_ Bob warned.

_"Oh, don't panic. It's just a matchstick."_

"Larry, don't light up the matchstick! That's—"

But before Katherine's warning was completed, there was a boom and a show of fireworks in a distance, to the sisters' surprise. They looked at each other nervously because they didn't mention that that place was…

"Where we keep our fireworks," Katherine moaned on the phone, finishing her sentence.

_"You could've told us sooner."_ Larry's voice squeaked on the other end of the line.

The boys, Harry, Billy, Lewis (Archibald's son) and Nicky (remember the '09 Christmas story of Veggie Tales?), were the other side, setting up the stage.

"I've been practicing guitar a lot. If this concert becomes a huge hit, I could become an insta-star!" Harry said.

"Whoa, back up, pal. We're not doing this for fame." Nicky said.

"Correct." Lewis agreed.

"I know, I know. We have to save the church and all. But think about it! We could be famous at the same time!" Harry beamed.

The boys looked at their friend uncomfortably.

"I don't know, Harry." Billy said. "Being famous is not really on my agenda."

Harry was a bit disappointed that his friends didn't understand him. And by a bit disappointed, meaning just a moment. Harry shook his head and smiled.

"Oh, well. It's up to you, guys." Harry smiled.

The guys looked at each other. Harry still didn't get it.

Larry and Bob came back from Katherine's house full of soot and dust. Katherine and Sara were taken aback, seeing the two dirty and very, VERY dusty. But, at the same time, they were trying to hide their smiles and laughter because they looked funny.

"Are you guys okay?" Sara giggled.

"Yeah, we're fine. It would have been better if you told us that that's the place where you kept fireworks." Larry coughed.

Junior appeared in the scene. "Hey, guys. What's up? What are you doing? And why is Bob and Larry covered with dirt?"

Katherine chuckled. "Long story. We were just setting up a concert. We're trying to help the church so that the businessman won't buy it."

"Say, that's a great idea! Why didn't you tell me?" Junior smiled.

"You do live quite a distance from our house." Sara reasoned.

"We're cousins? Your mom and dad could've just contacted mine just to let us know." Junior shrugged.

"Hi, guys!" Laura greeted.

"Hi, Sara!" Annie said.

"Hey, everybody." Sara perked.

"Watchadoin'?" Percy asked.

"They're making a Christmas Concert to save the church building!" Junior announced.

"Really?" the kids said.

"You guys could help us if you want. We need all the help we can get." Bob suggested.

"Sure we would! I'll call the others to see if they want to tag along!" Laura smiled.

Not too far away from the excited group, Harry saw how the kids were so excited in… helping. They didn't think of themselves first. They didn't think it was a fantastic idea to help themselves. They thought it was a fantastic idea to help the church. Harry wondered when was the last time he felt excited to help when…

"Harry! There you are!" Larry exclaimed.

Harry yelped in surprise. "Uncle Larry, you surprised me!"

"I was just wondering if you were doing okay." Larry said.

"Of course, I am! Why would you ask?"

"No reason. I just thought you were thinking about something."

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" a voice yelled.

* * *

**Guys, I'm sooooooooooooo sorry. I know Merry Larry was released the day before yesterday, but I didn't finish this story. Schoolwork's killing me! But, good news! Be of good tidings!Semester break has just arrived! More time to update stories! Yaaaaaaayyyy! :) Thank you for the kind comments, gracewilliams14, Music Person and iheartgod175. You guys are really sweet. :)))) Advance Merry Christmas everyone!**


End file.
